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Are Bangladesh becoming as good as the Sri Lankan team of the mid-to-late 1990s?

Ab Fan

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They have been performing consistently well over the last five years. Watching them compete and succeed against Pakistan regularly reminds me of how Sri Lanka rose against India in the 1990s. Is it finally time to consider Bangladesh a proper Test team alongside the established seven, and perhaps ahead of the West Indies? Have they become a force to reckon with in Test cricket?

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Naa. They will fall back. They get too excited.
 
They have found Nahid Rana who can get into most test teams right now in talent. Apart from him none of the big teams would take any of their players. They will need 2-3 more Nahid level talents to make a solid case.

That being said, their batting has improved and is no more minnow level poor. Bowling is average. They’re a proper middle table to bottom team now. Still behind Pakistan
 
Beating Pakistan no badge of honour. Literally any team in the world can beat Pakistan.

Bangladesh have improved, but they will still get annihilated by any good test team outside of their home.
 
Will need to see how they do other teams. They are facing the most pathetic Pakistani team since ages. The same Bangladesh team which whitewashed Pakistan at home got annihilated by India in India a month later in 2024
 
Will need to see how they do other teams. They are facing the most pathetic Pakistani team since ages. The same Bangladesh team which whitewashed Pakistan at home got annihilated by India in India a month later in 2024


Many teams got annihilated in India in test cricket before BD. That’s nothing new.

Winning 3 in a row against a side who is ahead of you in rankings, isnt easy. It could be 4 consecutive wins for BD against Pk, tomorrow. Credit where it’s due, instead of trying to downplaying their wins by saying how bad PCT is. Am sure if PCT wins tomorrow you will be doing bhangra and balle balle and rubbing it in.
 
Many teams got annihilated in India in test cricket before BD. That’s nothing new.

Winning 3 in a row against a side who is ahead of you in rankings, isnt easy. It could be 4 consecutive wins for BD against Pk, tomorrow. Credit where it’s due, instead of trying to downplaying their wins by saying how bad PCT is. Am sure if PCT wins tomorrow you will be doing bhangra and balle balle and rubbing it in.

India is an extreme example. But Bangladesh's biggest test will be other countries like Aus, NZ, SA, England as well.

Bangladesh has a great record against Pakistan in all formats in the last 2 years i.e. Test Cricket, ODI Cricket and T-20 cricket. These results are not flukes, they are clearly a better team than Pakistan right now and Pakistan is at the bottom tier in all formats. If they fail to replicate their form and results against the other countries then it will further serve as an indicement on the pathetic state of Pakistan Cricket.

Pakistan is not going to win tomorrow, there is no if about it.
 
What? Lol no

We do well in nothing bilateral series and show outlr aukat in ICC trophies. Which Mid 90 SL won. Untill we do the same it's a Big Fat No
 
What? Lol no

We do well in nothing bilateral series and show outlr aukat in ICC trophies. Which Mid 90 SL won. Untill we do the same it's a Big Fat No
Winning Test series isn’t any random series - they won 4 Tests against PAK beating in their own game. Besides, BD won a Test in NZ as well - can’t recall when last India or Pakistan won a Test there. Improving in Test cricket is ultimate goal - once that’s fixed things will start to get smoother
 
Winning Test series isn’t any random series - they won 4 Tests against PAK beating in their own game. Besides, BD won a Test in NZ as well - can’t recall when last India or Pakistan won a Test there. Improving in Test cricket is ultimate goal - once that’s fixed things will start to get smoother
Comparing with SL is absolute farce. SL has won odi WC t20 WC icc champions trophy. We have not even won Asia cup once
 
They have found Nahid Rana who can get into most test teams right now in talent. Apart from him none of the big teams would take any of their players. They will need 2-3 more Nahid level talents to make a solid case.

That being said, their batting has improved and is no more minnow level poor. Bowling is average. They’re a proper middle table to bottom team now. Still behind Pakistan
Nahid Rana will only get into you trundler attack. Not in many others
 
SL beat BD both home and away pretty comfortably . Not sure BD is that close to SL :inti
 
It's hilarious that Pakistan keeps getting these regular 3 test series in SENA despite being mediocre and not winning there since 2018.

Meanwhile Bangladesh with a better Test side, better fast bowling attack etc haven't toured Aus/Eng since eternity. They also drew 1-1 in New Zealand last time around...
 
It's hilarious that Pakistan keeps getting these regular 3 test series in SENA despite being mediocre and not winning there since 2018.

Meanwhile Bangladesh with a better Test side, better fast bowling attack etc haven't toured Aus/Eng since eternity. They also drew 1-1 in New Zealand last time around...

We are playing less tests in SENA than before. At the peak, we were playing 4 tests in England every 4 years. Now a lot of these series got shortened to 2 tests already and if we keep playing poorly relative to Bangladesh, we might be competing with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh for test matches in SENA very soon. Hopefully it wonbt get to that. We are still a cricket mad nation with a lot of talent. Just need better management.
 
Bangladesh so far has only really competed well against Pakistan. They have some handy batsmen and good bowlers, so they need to compete. Looking back their golden generation of Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiq, Mashrafe and 2-3 other players severely underperformed. That was the time when they should have become the Sri Lanka of the 90s. They had some of the individual parts but ultimately didn't achieve anything.
 
Not enough sample size to claim this. Srilanka won World Cup in 1996, won numerous asia cups, played many finals between 1995-2014. Bangladesh has shown good promise but they still need to do well consistently
 
Bangladesh so far has only really competed well against Pakistan. They have some handy batsmen and good bowlers, so they need to compete. Looking back their golden generation of Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiq, Mashrafe and 2-3 other players severely underperformed. That was the time when they should have become the Sri Lanka of the 90s. They had some of the individual parts but ultimately didn't achieve anything.

Pakistan has the better resources but a diabolical set-up which is completely inept and incapable of functioning even at say, the club cricket level.

Bangladesh has the superior administration and with a few world class players they will be competitive everywhere. Nahid Rana gives all Bengali’s hope that there is potential to pluck out some gems every now and then.
 
Pakistan has the better resources but a diabolical set-up which is completely inept and incapable of functioning even at say, the club cricket level.

Bangladesh has the superior administration and with a few world class players they will be competitive everywhere. Nahid Rana gives all Bengali’s hope that there is potential to pluck out some gems every now and then.
Bro I don't think their system is anything special compared to ours. Both are chaotic and in the past their chairmen have been complete embarrassment too.

Is it as dysfunctional as PCB? Probably not. But the Bangladeshi players have to overcome a lot to get to the top of their game too. They are just as incompetent as administrators as us.
 
Bro I don't think their system is anything special compared to ours. Both are chaotic and in the past their chairmen have been complete embarrassment too.

Is it as dysfunctional as PCB? Probably not. But the Bangladeshi players have to overcome a lot to get to the top of their game too. They are just as incompetent as administrators as us.

Their players are way more professional then ours that’s for sure so I agree on that one
 
They're as good as anyone in this Test cycle. I'm thinking right now. Who can stop them from reaching WTC Final?
 
It's hilarious that Pakistan keeps getting these regular 3 test series in SENA despite being mediocre and not winning there since 2018.

Meanwhile Bangladesh with a better Test side, better fast bowling attack etc haven't toured Aus/Eng since eternity. They also drew 1-1 in New Zealand last time around...
Series is not scheduled only on current performance.....Pakistan is crowd puller in England that's why they are inviting Pakistan for 5 match test series in 2028 which bengalis can only dream of.....last te they toured England in 2009 and maybe last time......... they are just team with no history or significance.....
 
Series is not scheduled only on current performance.....Pakistan is crowd puller in England that's why they are inviting Pakistan for 5 match test series in 2028 which bengalis can only dream of.....last te they toured England in 2009 and maybe last time......... they are just team with no history or significance.....

Yes I know ...that why i said it's hilarious and somewhat ironic.

Besides, I'm pretty sure even Bangladesh can pull decent crowds in England considering their large expat presence in the UK. Especially now that their team is performing somewhat better in the longer formats. In the 2019 world cup, every BD game was packed with them.

And lol at history...WI has much greater history and significance in world cricket than Pakistan but they're now reduced to 2 match test series in most countries.
 
Test is Bangladesh's weakest format, they made many mistakes in this series against one of the worst Test teams in world cricket right now. Still a long way off from even thinking of challenging the likes of India and England, forget about the top three Australia, NZ and South Africa.

They are actually making a very good LOI format team though, I think they have the most six-hitters after India in Asia. Correct me if I am wrong.
 
Test is Bangladesh's weakest format, they made many mistakes in this series against one of the worst Test teams in world cricket right now. Still a long way off from even thinking of challenging the likes of India and England, forget about the top three Australia, NZ and South Africa.

They are actually making a very good LOI format team though, I think they have the most six-hitters after India in Asia. Correct me if I am wrong.

BD's batting is ordinary. But, bowling is good now I think.

Pace attack is good --> Nahid, Shoriful, Taskin, Mustafiz, Hassan Mahmud.
Spin attack is good --> Taijul, Miraz, Mahedi, Nasum, Rishad.

Batting is still pretty minnow-ish (with occasional good performances). Need to work on that.
 
BD's batting is ordinary. But, bowling is good now I think.

Pace attack is good --> Nahid, Shoriful, Taskin, Mustafiz, Hassan Mahmud.
Spin attack is good --> Taijul, Miraz, Mahedi, Nasum, Rishad.

Batting is still pretty minnow-ish (with occasional good performances). Need to work on that.
I saw a stat where it said Bangladesh batters are hitting more sixes than before, and they have hit the most number of sixes after India in Asia.

That chase against Sri Lanka was special in Asia Cup, very clinical. They are mentally weak though, and collapse under pressure.
 
I saw a stat where it said Bangladesh batters are hitting more sixes than before, and they have hit the most number of sixes after India in Asia.

That chase against Sri Lanka was special in Asia Cup, very clinical. They are mentally weak though, and collapse under pressure.

I was referring to Test and ODI. I don't take T20 seriously. :inti

They need to improve Test and ODI batting. Too many collapses. Bowlers tend to bail them out.
 
Test is Bangladesh's weakest format, they made many mistakes in this series against one of the worst Test teams in world cricket right now. Still a long way off from even thinking of challenging the likes of India and England, forget about the top three Australia, NZ and South Africa.

They are actually making a very good LOI format team though, I think they have the most six-hitters after India in Asia. Correct me if I am wrong.
last test series in NZ was 1-1 against full strength NZ squad, against SA at home we were outplayed in all dept. last test series against Eng and Aus was also 1-1 in BD, though the pitches were rank turners
 
BD's batting is ordinary. But, bowling is good now I think.

Pace attack is good --> Nahid, Shoriful, Taskin, Mustafiz, Hassan Mahmud.
Spin attack is good --> Taijul, Miraz, Mahedi, Nasum, Rishad.

Batting is still pretty minnow-ish (with occasional good performances). Need to work on that.
Agreed. They have always done much better in bowling than batting, especially at home but now they have a few reliable batters as well.
 
Test is Bangladesh's weakest format, they made many mistakes in this series against one of the worst Test teams in world cricket right now. Still a long way off from even thinking of challenging the likes of India and England, forget about the top three Australia, NZ and South Africa.

They are actually making a very good LOI format team though, I think they have the most six-hitters after India in Asia. Correct me if I am wrong.
Even for SL of mid and late 90s, Tests was their weakest format. They didn’t won a lot of tests in 1990s.
 
Yes I know ...that why i said it's hilarious and somewhat ironic.

Besides, I'm pretty sure even Bangladesh can pull decent crowds in England considering their large expat presence in the UK. Especially now that their team is performing somewhat better in the longer formats. In the 2019 world cup, every BD game was packed with them.

And lol at history...WI has much greater history and significance in world cricket than Pakistan but they're now reduced to 2 match test series in most countries.
But truth is pakistan is invited for 5 tests while bangladesh will never get series...
 
SL in the 90s was a top tier LOI team in the 90s. In tests they were good at home.

I would say Bangladesh is on par with the 90s SL at home.

In Lois they are still middle-lower middle tier.
 
Bangladesh are a good team at home which is the first step towards improvement for any side. In the 90's when SL were improving, the first thing they did was not lose too many series at home and from there they gradually built their team. SL obviously had some legends which BD does not. I am not saying Bangladesh will become like SL but at least they have started to do well at home against all sides. They almost defeated India as well in a Test on the latter's last tour there only to be saved by Ashwin and Shreyas.
 
Bangladesh are a good team at home which is the first step towards improvement for any side. In the 90's when SL were improving, the first thing they did was not lose too many series at home and from there they gradually built their team. SL obviously had some legends which BD does not. I am not saying Bangladesh will become like SL but at least they have started to do well at home against all sides. They almost defeated India as well in a Test on the latter's last tour there only to be saved by Ashwin and Shreyas.
SL had GOAT bowler Murali and 2nd tier greats like Sanga, Mahela or even Jayasuriya, Aravinda.

Bangladesh is more similar to Nzl team of the 90s I feel were they would be formidable at home. They have efficient players but no players of that stature of SL team.
 
Win against Pakistan doesn't say much these days. They definitely did improve but not to that extent. But these new guys will be better than Tamim, muhamadullah and Mushfiqur when they retire. Don't think anyone is touching Shakib's feat. Shanto will probably retire as their finest batsmen of all time.
 
Bangladesh has become a nightmare for Pakistan to say the least.... Shan must be seeing shanto and co in his dreams.
 
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